Ahh, the countdown we’re all familiar with, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, Happy New Year! We do it every year and every year that countdown means something different to us. With each descending number, we put a little more closure on one year, its challenges and its triumphs. And it’s that same countdown that guides us into a new year, bringing with it new possibilities, new hopes, new goals. As the clock strikes midnight, even if for only a moment, we’re given a clean slate and the year is wide open!
This new year marked 6 months post-partum for me. And as I counted down on Dec 31, I celebrated an incredible first 6 months of both joys and challenges with my beautiful son and husband. I also celebrated having reached one of my goals, to run a 10 K (6 miles) by 6 months post-partum. In doing so, I waved goodbye to my pregnancy weight and with it, the stretchy, over-sized, interim clothes that will forever be in a box labeled, “Tweener Clothes,” the clothes that fall in that category somewhere between maternity clothes and pre-pregnancy clothes. As the clock struck midnight this year, I was reminded of my goals for the coming new year, one of which is a countdown of another kind, my countdown back into shape and my goal of choice, to run a half marathon in March.
I knew that getting back into pre-pregnancy fitness shape would be a challenge and that my body would feel differently afterwards, but what I wasn’t prepared for was all of the jiggling! You mamas know what I’m talking about! Places that were once taut and firm now jiggle like jello. And I’m not sure anyone can comprehend ahead of time just how exhausted you feel, not only in the weeks but also the months following Ben’s birth. It’s the jiggly feeling all over that makes me want to get out and run, but it’s the, “I’m so exhausted I don’t even want to take a shower” feeling that makes me want to park it on the couch and sleep the yawns away! It’s as though they are pitted against one another, jiggles vs. yawns, throwing me into a daily web of indecision, to run or not to run, that is the question! And I find that the answer to that question depends on the day, depends on my energy, depends on Ben’s mood and nap schedule, and it depends on what else needs to be done. And that’s the way it is, because we moms are often attempting to juggle 101 things a day. I view my health as a priority and designating time to take care of myself, even if it means bundling Ben up and running with him in the BOB for just a few miles, is important, very important. Yet, sometimes there’s something that’s gotta give, because there are days when Ben has snot dripping out of his nose and it would be completely selfish of me to take him in the stroller out into the winter weather just so I could run. And some days, my body is calling out to me, begging for me to rest, and I need to listen. But there IS such a thing as balance it’s just a matter of striking it!
So, for me it’s about having goals AND holding them loosely. Easier said than done, right? I don’t know about you, but once I get an expectation in my head, it’s hard for me to let go of it. And sometimes I don’t even know I have an expectation until it goes unmet. But that’s what we moms do, we are constantly re-working our expectations, because let’s face it children don’t operate according to our plan! My son, Ben, decided to teach me that lesson from the get go. My “plan” to have a natural, un-medicated birth turned into having to be induced, followed by 45 hours of grueling labor, which after 24 of those hours I chose to get an epidural. It was either that or my first choice, to just go home, which I was quickly informed was not an option! I could look at his birth as though I failed in some way or I could see it as, “I had a hope, things didn’t go as planned, so I had to re-work my idea of what was best for me and for my son,” which is how I choose to look at it. In the end, I had the privilege of giving birth (and for all you preggo mamas out there, I don’t even remember the pain now!) to a healthy, beautiful baby boy, and I call that, one big success!
So, as I’ve said goodbye to 2010 and with it celebrated achieving my goal of running 6 miles by 6 months, I now forge on ahead into 2011, setting my sights on a half marathon and counting down a few more pounds. I may run the half marathon, I may not we’ll see how it goes. But either way, I’m on a journey back to fitness and that’s a good thing. And as I journey forward into the coming year, I’m learning how to relax my grip a little, and by grip I mean the white knuckle grasp I attempt to have on my life’s outcomes! Yes, I’ve just embarked on a run down Goal Setting Avenue and now I’m turning the corner onto Hold Loosely Lane, anyone care to join me?
This new year marked 6 months post-partum for me. And as I counted down on Dec 31, I celebrated an incredible first 6 months of both joys and challenges with my beautiful son and husband. I also celebrated having reached one of my goals, to run a 10 K (6 miles) by 6 months post-partum. In doing so, I waved goodbye to my pregnancy weight and with it, the stretchy, over-sized, interim clothes that will forever be in a box labeled, “Tweener Clothes,” the clothes that fall in that category somewhere between maternity clothes and pre-pregnancy clothes. As the clock struck midnight this year, I was reminded of my goals for the coming new year, one of which is a countdown of another kind, my countdown back into shape and my goal of choice, to run a half marathon in March.
I knew that getting back into pre-pregnancy fitness shape would be a challenge and that my body would feel differently afterwards, but what I wasn’t prepared for was all of the jiggling! You mamas know what I’m talking about! Places that were once taut and firm now jiggle like jello. And I’m not sure anyone can comprehend ahead of time just how exhausted you feel, not only in the weeks but also the months following Ben’s birth. It’s the jiggly feeling all over that makes me want to get out and run, but it’s the, “I’m so exhausted I don’t even want to take a shower” feeling that makes me want to park it on the couch and sleep the yawns away! It’s as though they are pitted against one another, jiggles vs. yawns, throwing me into a daily web of indecision, to run or not to run, that is the question! And I find that the answer to that question depends on the day, depends on my energy, depends on Ben’s mood and nap schedule, and it depends on what else needs to be done. And that’s the way it is, because we moms are often attempting to juggle 101 things a day. I view my health as a priority and designating time to take care of myself, even if it means bundling Ben up and running with him in the BOB for just a few miles, is important, very important. Yet, sometimes there’s something that’s gotta give, because there are days when Ben has snot dripping out of his nose and it would be completely selfish of me to take him in the stroller out into the winter weather just so I could run. And some days, my body is calling out to me, begging for me to rest, and I need to listen. But there IS such a thing as balance it’s just a matter of striking it!
So, for me it’s about having goals AND holding them loosely. Easier said than done, right? I don’t know about you, but once I get an expectation in my head, it’s hard for me to let go of it. And sometimes I don’t even know I have an expectation until it goes unmet. But that’s what we moms do, we are constantly re-working our expectations, because let’s face it children don’t operate according to our plan! My son, Ben, decided to teach me that lesson from the get go. My “plan” to have a natural, un-medicated birth turned into having to be induced, followed by 45 hours of grueling labor, which after 24 of those hours I chose to get an epidural. It was either that or my first choice, to just go home, which I was quickly informed was not an option! I could look at his birth as though I failed in some way or I could see it as, “I had a hope, things didn’t go as planned, so I had to re-work my idea of what was best for me and for my son,” which is how I choose to look at it. In the end, I had the privilege of giving birth (and for all you preggo mamas out there, I don’t even remember the pain now!) to a healthy, beautiful baby boy, and I call that, one big success!
So, as I’ve said goodbye to 2010 and with it celebrated achieving my goal of running 6 miles by 6 months, I now forge on ahead into 2011, setting my sights on a half marathon and counting down a few more pounds. I may run the half marathon, I may not we’ll see how it goes. But either way, I’m on a journey back to fitness and that’s a good thing. And as I journey forward into the coming year, I’m learning how to relax my grip a little, and by grip I mean the white knuckle grasp I attempt to have on my life’s outcomes! Yes, I’ve just embarked on a run down Goal Setting Avenue and now I’m turning the corner onto Hold Loosely Lane, anyone care to join me?
Hey Melissa! I found your blog randomly (through Alex Knoop actually) and have enjoyed reading it. Congratulations on your baby boy! I really liked this post...good perspective on many issues I have faced as well...nice to read a sounds voice on the topic and be encouraged. :) take care! - Erica Smith http://mattandericasmith.blogspot.com
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